Disaster News
National Disaster Centre needs funds to carry out relief operation
The National Disaster Centre urgently need adequate funding support from government to carry out its duties in responding to the earthquake disaster in Hela and Southern Highlands Province.
Officers from the Centre were deployed to Hela and Southern Highlands to conduct an initial rapid assessment and to help the respective provincial disaster offices to establish and active its emergency operation centre (EoC). Accordingly, the officers provided technical support on how to conduct assessments and established the respective EoCs which became an information centre and coordination hub.
The Centre already developed its relief coordination structure where relief coordination base in Port Moresby and two forward bases in Mt. Hagen and Moro. The Centre urgently needs funding support from the government to effectively coordinate relief operations.
7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Highlands Region
A massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake occurred on 26 February 2018 at 3:44 am caused extensive damages to buildings, public lifeline services and triggered many landslides in various location in Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces. The earthquake epicentre was at 6.2 degree south and 142.7 degree east. It is approximately 30 km south of Tari and 40 km north-west of Lake Kutubu.
The earthquake was generated as a result of movement of the Papuan Fold and Thrust Belt, which runs parallel to the axial mountain range of PNG. This fault belt runs in the SE to NW direction, from Gulf Province through Southern Highlands and Hela regions, northern sections of Western Province and into Papua Province of Indonesia. The earthquake was felt over a wide area, from Gulf and Western in the south to the Sepik Provinces in the north and to the east as far as Madang and Morobe Provinces respectively.
The fault movement in this region was typical but this one was huge and it triggered the 7.5 magnitude earthquake which was felt by many people in the highlands.
There have been occurrences of large magnitude earthquakes in this part of PNG region in the past. On 19 January 1922, a magnitude M7.5 earthquake occurred to the south of this earthquake. It occurred about 64 km southwest of Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province. On 03 March 1954, another M7 earthquake occurred to the northwest of this earthquake. It occurred about 27 km to the west of Koroba, Hela Province.
National Disaster Centre to become a Commission
The National Disaster Centre will soon become the Disaster Risk Management Commission when the new Disaster Bill is endorsed and pass by Parliament any time.
The Acting Director of the National Disaster Centre, Mr. Mose said , the National Disaster Centre was established under an Act of Parliament in 1984 when the Disaster Management Act was enacted. This piece of legislation created the National Disaster Centre which presently operates under Ministry of Inter-Government Relations and served by Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs in the areas of Finance and Administration
The Acting Director said, over the past 21 years of operation, many legal, operational, financial and HR shortcomings have become apparent. The frequency, intensity and coverage of known disasters affecting livelihood of many citizens have dramatically increased exponentially with our population growth. As a result, it is inevitable for improvement and changes to be addressed and absorbed into the current disaster management system in PNG. Many successive Ministers and Governments commended on an moved for changes to be made to the way disasters are managed in PNG.
In December 2013, when NEC instructed that changes were necessary and overdue to the existing legislation that governs disaster management system in the country, Provincial Disaster Officers, International stakeholders and domestic key players in disaster management were tasked to effect changes.
The Law Reform Commission was tasked by the National Disaster Committee to collect and collate input from all stakeholders towards the drafting of a improved legislation to manage disasters in the country.
Since 2003 many consultative meetings have been conducted and these have culminated in the finalization of enabling documents including, A draft Bill to create a Disaster Risk Management Commission. Formal Drafting Instructions, Explanatory Notes on the Bill and a set of Endowment Fund Trust Deeds.
These are expected to be tabled to NEC by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for disaster management when parliament meets.
National Disaster Centre to become a Commission
Sentinel Asia is a voluntary initiative led by the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and was established in 2005 as collaboration among space agencies and disaster management agencies under the APRSAF initiative. It supports disaster management efforts in the Asia-Pacific region through the provision of space-based information and imagery derived from earth observation satellites. The aim is to mitigate and prevent damage caused by natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions and wildfires.
Sentinel Asia, first advocated in 2005, now counts 8 international organizations and 51 participating organizations from 20 countries as members, and utilization of its systems is steadily expanding. The National Disaster Centre is now a member of Sentinel Asia.
The Director of National Disaster Centre, Mr. Martin Mose thanked the Board Members of Sentinel Asia for recognizing Papua New Guinea by accrediting JPT membership to the National Disaster Centre. The Director said, such high level membership is very important for a country to promoting international cooperation in terms disaster risk reduction and disaster management.
Director Mose further said that due to the geographical position of the country, we are vulnerable to earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Apart from these hazards, the country is also prone to drought, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides, the impact of climatic change and climate variability and sea level rise. The Government of Papua New Guinea recognizes the country’s vulnerability to various kinds of disasters and is committed to disaster risk reduction programs and disaster management on an ‘all hazards’ basis in support of sustainable development with a vision ‘to ensure safer and resilient communities in Papua New Guinea. Mr Mose added that, the Centre’s membership to Sentinel Asia is very important and timely to support the work of the Government in tackling disaster risk management and disaster management in the country.
